


A New Friend for Little Witch Girl

by Chibifukurou



Category: The Witch Family - Eleanor Estes
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 08:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/pseuds/Chibifukurou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Matilda was seven, Aunt Clarissa came to visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Friend for Little Witch Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_rck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_rck/gifts).



> A huge thank you to Alter Egon for offering to beta my story even though they weren't familiar with The Witch Family.

When Matilda was seven, Aunt Clarissa came to visit. It had been a wretched summer. The baby would not stop squalling unless Mother held her. Mother said that this was because the baby's teeth were growing in.

"Matilda, you squalled exactly the same way when you were getting your first two teeth," Mother would say with a huff when Matilda tried to hide under her bed to get away from the crying.

Matilda didn’t believe Mother. After all, she was a big girl, and she didn't cry when her first big girl tooth came in, not even for a minute. (This was not exactly true, as she had cried for a few hours when her front tooth had first fallen out.) Besides, when she was a baby she didn't share her room with a sister who had to stay awake all night with the baby.

On the third day of the baby's fit, a taxi pulled up in front of the house, and Aunt Clarissa hopped out. She had her hair up in curls, all tucked away under her big black hat. The hat was tall and had a pointed top, just like a witches' hat, and all around the edge were bright pink cloth flowers. She wore a great flapping, black cloak that twisted and turned around her pointy-toed boots as she bounced around the taxi, running to the trunk to pull her large suitcase out before running back around to the passenger side to pay the cabbie.

Matilda watched all this by peeking through the gauzy curtains that covered the big window at the front of their house. She was quite convinced that Aunt Clarissa was a witch, and everyone at school said that witches were evil, and liked to turn children into toads.

Matilda didn't want to become a toad. So when she saw Aunt Clarissa started up the path to the door, she scampered away to the playroom.  Once she was hidden from sight, she paused to listen through the crack of the door.

The door-bell rang. Mother came running from the kitchen. Matilda couldn't see her, but she could feel the way the floor shook as Mother bounded into the living room. The door squeaked open. "Clarissa, dear. I'm so glad you made it."

"Of course,  Amy." There were rustles and thumps as Aunt Clarissa dropped her bags. Then the screen door gave a loud bang as it closed. "And who is this little bundle of joy?"

Matilda waited for the baby to start screaming. People always called the baby a bundle of joy right before they picked her up. Then Mother had to spend hours getting her back quiet again. So Matilda held her breath, and waited for the screams. Then she waited some more. Finally, she cracked the door open so that she could see what was going on.

Aunt Clarissa was holding the baby! And she wasn't crying at all. Instead she was making soft cooing sounds, like when Mother held her. Maybe Aunt Clarissa was a good witch after all? Even if she wasn't good, she definitely had to be magic. Nothing but magic could keep the baby from crying.

# # #

Aunt Clarissa's magic held through dinner, until it was time for Matilda and the baby to go to bed. Matilda expected Mother to put them to bed, but Aunt Clarissa carried the baby to the bedroom instead. Matilda almost threw a fit, but she remembered the stories about people being turned into frogs, and decided to just pretend to be asleep until Aunt Clarissa went away.

Aunt Clarissa tucked the baby into her crib, and then came to sit at the foot of Matilda's bed. "Has your  mother ever told you about Old Witch?"

"No." Matilda pulled her quilt up until it covered her nose. Was Aunt Clarissa going to tell her about how she turned children into frogs?

"Well then, I suppose that means I'll get to tell you the most exciting part of the story. 'One day, Old Witch, the head witch of all witches, was banished."

# # #

Hannah wasn't expecting anything to be different when she woke up that morning. It had been a long time since anything had changed on the glass hill. She didn't know how long it had been since she had last seen Amy but she knew it had been a long, long time.

At first she didn't realize anything had changed at all. Old Witch was still sitting in her creaky chair on the front porch. Weenie witch was asleep in her cradle. It wasn't until Hannah went into the bathroom to fix her hair, before she went to school, that anything seemed different at all.

Her hair had changed. It had always been exactly the same color as Amy's. Now it was longer and dark curly brown. And did she look younger? Like she was seven again maybe. She still remembered when she and Amy had both been so little.

Suddenly terrified that something might have happened to Amy, she went running out to Old Witch. "Old Witch, Old Witch. What's happening to me?" She shook her head from side to side so that Old Witch would notice her new, curly hair.

Old Witch squinted and turned her head one way and then the other. "Hmmmm."

Mordechai buzzed "BE PREPARED!"

# # #

By the time that Aunt Clarissa left a week later, Matilda was entranced with the stories of the Witch Family. She started calling the baby Weeny. Old witch showed up in almost all of her drawings. And if Old Witch had gained a flower-rimmed hat and pointy shoes like Aunt Clarissa's, then she couldn't be blamed. After all this was her first week knowing a real witch.

# # #

It had been a very strange week for Hannah. First she had woken up with dark and curly hair. Then her nose and eyes changed as well.

Even Weeny witch was changing. As her hair got darker, she began to grow. In fact,  Hannah thought that she might become a toddler soon.

Strangest of all was Old Witch. She had started to get younger. Her wrinkles had started to disappear, and her hat now had a ring of pink flowers around the brim.  It was all very strange.

Still, Mordechai was happily buzzing away. More excited than she had seen him in years.

She went to bed, half-afraid that something terrible would happen when she woke up. But the next morning, something amazing happened.

Two new little girls appeared on the front porch of the House.  One of them was just Hannah's size, and had the same hair and nose that Hannah had now. The other is just the right size for Weenie Witch.

The little girl gave Hannah a big smile. "Hi! I'm Matilda. Is this Old Witch's House?"

Hannah nodded. "I'm Little Witch Girl and this is Weenie Witch."

"It's nice to meet you. My Aunt Clarissa told me all about you."

# # #

When Amy went into the girls' bedroom that night, she found Matilda fast asleep at her coloring table. She picked her up and tucked her into bed. Then she went back to the coloring table to put the crayons away.

Then she saw the picture of four little girls playing together in a flower covered meadow. It had been a long time since she thought about Little Girl Witch and Weenie Witch, but she could still remember how much they had meant to her when she was Matilda's age.

She was glad that Matilda and Bee would have friends to play with.

Carefully, she picked the picture up, and took it out into the kitchen to pin it to refrigerator.

Then she called Clarissa to reminisce about Old Witch. And to let her know that in Matilda's picture, a very familiar hat had festooned Old Witch's head.

~Fin

 


End file.
